


Arrival

by Revasnaslan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (Ish) - Freeform, Bittersweet, Canon Compliant, M/M, Pre-Canon, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-05 14:49:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12796746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revasnaslan/pseuds/Revasnaslan
Summary: To be honest, it was probably counter productive that Ulaz wasnotinformed of who his partner while he was undercover was gonna be.





	Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Verak is the cutie from S4 who appeared for 0.3 seconds at the end of the season and then immediately ran off when she and her friends came face to face with Voltron <3 she was named by the help of some of my friends

Ulaz wasn’t surprised to see sentries everywhere when he first arrived at High Command—having infiltrated a large number of outposts before now in order to retrieve information meant he was very well acquainted with what he’d find once he got there. For years, he had trained, just in case he was eventually placed undercover, and then had to hide behind a mask for several weeks—months— _years_ —before he accomplished his goal.

And his goal, as stated by Kolivan, was to retrieve information for the Blade of Marmora, before passing it off to the other Blade who was stationed here. He hadn’t been “at liberty” to tell Ulaz who the other Blade was, though. It was likely a security precaution, in the event he was intercepted or found out before he and the other Blade made their first contact—and Ulaz didn’t anticipate meeting them for several weeks after he was first put under cover.

As soon as he disembarked, he was immediately taken aside to start going through ‘standard procedure’—making sure all his records were up to date, verifying his identity, and the like. It was a basic overview, a routine procedure, and all the while a Druid stood nearby, watching him from behind a six-eyed mask. With the Druid’s gaze boring into the back of his head, Ulaz could feel he was being watched… but he didn’t feel like anything was probing his mind. He clenched his jaw, and tried to ignore it, as well as stop his shudder.

It was just _standard procedure_ …

Once all of that was completed he was handed off to a young cadet. She introduced herself as Verak—completely forgetting to include her clan name at first and then stuttering it out when her superior cleared their throat. Even in spite of her nervousness, she seemed positively giddy at having the honor of showing one of the newest medical officers around. While she tried to keep herself composed, Ulaz could tell based on the set and twitch of her ears that she was having a hard time containing her excitement. She seemed young, perhaps only just out of the academy. Ulaz could pick out a couple lingering patches of cub fur that she had yet to shed, peeking out from under the collar of her armor.

Her nervousness seemed to get worse when her superior reminded her that Ulaz would be submitting a report on her performance once she was done giving him a short tour of the base.

However, Ulaz decided to humor her, since she was so young. When she got too excitable while explaining something they were moving past, Ulaz would ask her further questions. She seemed to respond positively to that, and her nervousness disappeared as she warmed up to him rather quickly. Ulaz made a mental note to keep an eye on her in the future, just in case she could later be swayed into going against the Empire—even if she never became a Blade in her own right.

As he followed a couple of paces after Verak, he made note of areas that could be used as rendezvous points with his fellow Blade, in the event they had to meet at any point. Specifically, he tried to find blind spots, where they would be hidden from view of the cameras that lined the subdecks. While he noticed several spots, he knew that they were going to need several dozen more, at the very least. The more the better—especially since they were going to be here for a while. Hopefully, his fellow Blade had already staked out some more spots on other areas in the ship…

The halls were mostly barren as well, not that Ulaz was expecting anything different. It had been that way in the Blade’s bases as well. Nearly every single one that Ulaz had been on before becoming a sleeper agent had been devoid of any signs of being lived in. At least, outside of the living spaces. Personal quarters were always different. He thought that perhaps allowing soldiers to keep personal knick-knacks was a method of keeping up morale. He hadn’t seen anything in the Empire’s handbook—or the Blade of Marmora’s— _against_ it, at any rate.

He nearly ran into Verak when she suddenly stopped walking. Her ears had shot straight up as she stared off at the far end of the hall. She had began shaking slightly, although Ulaz couldn’t tell if it was from excitement or nervousness. He was about to ask her what was wrong when he followed her gaze—and his breath nearly caught in his throat.

Was that… _Thace_?

Ulaz had known that Thace was stationed somewhere important—of _course_ he had know that much, at least. But he had never known exactly where Thace had been stationed. They hadn’t seen each other in years, and the last time had been when Thace was first shipped out on a ‘big and important’ mission, one that Ulaz hadn’t been allowed to join him on. At the time, Thace had been visibly upset about the impromptu separation, and it had taken one of the standing lieutenants yelling at him to finally get him to leave. He had never told Ulaz where he was going…

They had still exchanged messages— _against protocol_ , Thace always reminded him—but Thace had always been extremely careful about not disclosing his whereabouts. It had worried Ulaz, whenever Thace just didn’t respond to him for long stretches of time, but that was the price they paid for going undercover. There would be rotations without any word. Even though they were technically partners on this mission, Ulaz still wouldn’t be able to check up on Thace whenever he pleased. It could draw unwanted attention to them.

“That’s Lieutenant Thace,” Verak whispered, as her ears tilted forward in interest. Judging by her tone, her shaking was actually from excitement, not from fear.

“Is that so?” Ulaz asked. He had to bite back a retort about how he _knew_ who Thace was. He thanked the stars that even if he _had_ done that, he could’ve played it off as him having seen Thace during basic training. This cadet wouldn’t have known the difference… but at the same time, he couldn’t afford to blow the entire operation by accidentally letting something like that slip.

“He works with Commander Prorok up on the bridge,” Verak said, nodding her head. “He once helped me carry some files that were for Commander Throk, after I dropped them…” She kind of shuffled one of her boots, mumbling something about how Thace was ‘nice’.

Well, that did sound like Thace. He had frequently helped new Blade initiates as well—most of them had adored him because of his relatively gentle demeanor, willingness to listen to, and respect for them.

“Who is that commander with him?” Ulaz asked, tilting his head to the side. He was sure he had seen a profile on that specific commander before, but he couldn’t place a name. Based on the tall stature, large and high set ears, and hair tails at the base of their skull, Ulaz would assume Clan Myvoknera, but he couldn’t be certain.

“That’s… Commander Throk,” Verak said as her ears drooped a little bit. “Second Fleet, mostly works with communications, I think…?”

Ulaz scoffed under his breath. “Is he nice?”

“Um…” Verak turned her head, tilting it back to look up at him, but she hesitated to speak.

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” Ulaz promised.

“He’s… a little less nice,” she admitted, before averting her gaze back to the floor.

When Thace noticed them, his ears gave the slightest shift—and his eyes widened a fraction, as he must have recognized Ulaz. He quickly schooled his expression, but judging by Throk’s amused look, he had taken notice. However, when he muttered something to Thace—likely teasing, based on his perked ears and the languid smirk on his lips—he only received an annoyed look in return.

“Sir, we should go,” Verak hissed under her breath. Her ears had pinned back now that Thace and Throk’s attention was on them. Ulaz could understand her nervousness, though—while she did seem intent on impressing her own superiors, she did not want to muck up in front of the some of the highest ranking members of the Imperial military.

Ulaz didn’t want to either.

However, before Ulaz could respond, Throk was already approaching them. Thace’s ears shifted back as he sighed and his shoulders fell, but he followed a couple of paces behind without any complaints. His eyes looked ready to roll out of his head as his ears twitched in irritation. Immediately upon noticing their approach, Verak let out a very cub-like squeak as she raised her fist to salute.

“Verak, wrong hand,” Ulaz whispered. As her fur fluffed up in embarrassment and she quickly corrected herself, Ulaz raised his own hand to his chest in order to salute them as well.

“Are you new?” Throk asked as he stopped before them, tilting his head to the side. His ears shifted forward in interest as his smirk widened, exposing his sharp teeth. “I do not believe I have seen you around before…”

Ulaz swallowed thickly, but nodded nonetheless. There was no backing out of this, and he had to make this first impression count. If he wasn’t able to sell his act to one of the highest ranking commanders in the Imperial military, then he wouldn’t be able to sell it to anyone else in the military either. He caught Thace’s eye for just a moment as he tried to steady himself, but Thace quickly averted his gaze and tried to busy himself with his datapad.

“I… I just transferred from Khal,” Ulaz explained. “I was a field medic there, helping my bloodmother care for the troops.”

“Ohhhh, a colonist,” Throk said, looking far too amused by all of this—and he looked ready to ask more questions. It made Ulaz feel like he was a kara chick cornered by a fully grown pyja that was preparing to pounce. While he was fully prepared to answer any and all questions, Thace spoke up before Throk could get another word in.

“Throk, we are needed on the bridge,” he said tersely, and there was an underlying urgency to his voice as he shot Throk a look to match.

Throk frowned but covered his rather obvious disappointment with a scoff. “You are no fun today…”

Thace didn’t rise to the bait, though. “ _Now_ , preferably,” he said dryly. “And I believe you have a report to file for Commander Prorok?”

With a heavy sigh, Throk relented, turning away from Ulaz and Verak. Thace, however, lingered for a moment.

“Nice to see you again, Verak,” Thace said politely—and she positively beamed under the attention, ears perking straight up. Then, Thace turned his gaze to Ulaz. “And who is your friend?”

“This is Doctor Ulaz,” Verak said—no more than a tick passed before she quickly corrected her mistake. “Doctor _vas Taelan_ , I mean.”

“Well, Doctor vas Taelan,” Thace said, as he tilted his head to the side and offered a soft smile. “Welcome to High Command.” Then, he excused himself politely and turned to follow after Throk. They disappeared down one of the many corridors and out of sight.

Verak’s ears twitched curiously, and she turned her head to look at him. “I was never personally welcomed to high command…” she mumbled, sounding a little put out.

Ulaz wasn't sure that it was as much of an honor as she was making it out to be.

—

“Welcome to High Command?”

Ulaz heard Thace scoff over the internal coms. “ _I was trying to be_ nice…” he said, voice coming out synthesized. In spite of his mask, Ulaz could tell he was probably frowning. “ _And stop talking over the coms, would you? We’re_ supposed _to be maintaining radio silence._ ”

Really, they were _supposed_ to be communicating through hand signals.

Ulaz sighed, but did as he was told. They moved along one of the winding corridors, keeping to the shadows and avoiding sentry patrols that moved down the halls. The sentries were easy enough to avoid, as they followed set paths, which Thace had memorized already. Ulaz eventually would in time. However, even if a sentry did spot them, they weren’t displaying any trademarks—their current uniforms were cloaked so as to be more nondescript than they would have been otherwise. Save for their masks, it was difficult to spot them in the shadows.

Their target was the information banks located on the lowest levels of the Central Hub. At this time of night, the only people down there would be the lowest ranking of the information techs, or their sentry bodyguards. Most of the information techs did not have substantial combat training—at least, not enough to take on a fully trained Blade. They would be easy to knock out, if it came to that. Assuming that Thace and Ulaz managed to avoid being seen—an easy enough task, as both were seasoned Blades—then they should be able to get in and out undetected.

It wasn’t difficult to get in. Ulaz managed to hack their way through the door in two ticks flat. After that, they darted through the shelves of the information bank, taking stock of the servers, and trying to find the one that they needed. Ulaz followed Thace’s lead, as this was a mission he had run several times before. He knew the patrols of the sentries in here as well, although there was the added challenge of the information techs. They avoided them pretty easily, though, as it seemed the information techs were as oblivious as the sentries were. Even if they turned around, they didn’t pay much mind to shadows moving, and assumed they had been seeing things.

As they came to the edge of another row of servers, Ulaz’s ears perked. Quickly, he grabbed hold of Thace’s wrist, reeling him back before he could exit the row. A sentry accompanied by an information tech passed by not even a tick later. Thace would have run straight into them if Ulaz hadn’t grabbed him. Ulaz listened until the sound of the sentry had disappeared down another row of servers before he released his hold on Thace’s arm. He received a dip of the head in acknowledgment before they were moving again. Ulaz took one last glance back the way they had come before following.

When they eventually got to the server that they needed, Thace let out an audible sigh, staring up at the port that was well above his head. His shoulders visibly slumped before he looked over his shoulder at Ulaz, and then motioned towards the port without a word. Ulaz helped boost him up without any further prompting, allowing Thace to stand on his shoulders so that he could reach the port without difficulty. Or having to climb… somehow.

“How did you manage without me here?” Ulaz asked.

“ _I stayed on the ground, for one_ ,” Thace said dryly. Then, he sighed, although he was clearly trying to withhold a soft chuckle. “ _And stop talking…_ ”

Ulaz grinned behind his mask. “And if I don’t?”

“ _Could kick you in the head, I suppose_ ,” Thace said, and he lightly tapped his heel against Ulaz’s temple, making the ‘threat’ clear. It was a miracle he managed to maintain his balance while standing on Ulaz’s shoulders. “ _But that would be the Empire’s way of reprimanding you… now, stop talking and let me work…_ ”

Ulaz snorted, but did as he was told.

The rest of that mission went smoothly… thankfully. Ulaz knew that he couldn’t assume that all their missions together would go smoothly—it was just a matter of pure luck in the end. And he hated it, but this was what he had signed up for, and so he would continue working at it until the bitter end.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of [VLD Tropes Fest](http://vldtropesfest.tumblr.com) | Comments and Kudos are appreciated | Anonymous creators will be revealed after the masterlist is posted!


End file.
